Paper-feeding mechanism.



H. 0. FISCHER. PAPER FEEDING MECHANISM. APPLICATION FILED JAN. 6. I917.

Patented Apr. 1,1919 2 SHEETSSHEET I H. O. FISCHER.

PAPER FEEDING MECHANISM. APPLICATIOIN FILED JAN. 6. I917.

1,298,684. Patented Apr. 1, 1919.

2 SHEETS-SHEET 2- I 70 24 Z 21 '22 4 z f H 8 I 7 Y i I H I l 6? 7 8 1 .I l7:f w z :i fim V 2 86 J 51 x 4.9 1 J4 64 J H o feed of the topmost ing each cycle of operations and provides terial is utilized. The invention eral character comprises a HERMANN O. FISCHER,

MASSACHUSETTS.

OF SPRINGFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR MACHINERY COMPANY, OF SPRINGFIELD,

PAPER-FEEDING MECHANISM.

T0 PACKAGE MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, HERMANN O. FISCHER, a citizen of the United States, residing at 18 Sycamore St., Springfield, in the county of Hampden and State of Massachusetts have invented certain Improvements in Faper- Feeding Mechanisms, of which the following description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like reference characters on the drawings indicating like parts in the several figures.

This invention relates to mechanisms for feedin sheets of paper or other material in sheet form to wrapping machines, printing presses or other machines in which such mais particularly concerned with mechanisms of this general type designed to feed individual sheets a from a supply as distinguished from those mechanisms which feed sheet material from a. web or continuous strip. I

A common type of mechanism of this gentable on which a stack of wrappers, labels, blanks or similar sheets are supported and a mechanism that feeds the sheets from the top of the stack one at a time to the machine in which they are to be used or to a sheet advancing mechanism of some kind. Inanechanisms of this type it is, of course, important to maintain the top of the stack at substantially a: fixed height in order to enable the feeding mechanism to deliver the sheets accurately and it, therefore, is necessary to employ some means for elevating this stack to compensate for the radual decrease in height caused by the removal of the sheets from the top of the stack. The present invention is particularly concerned with the mechanisms for effecting the elevating movement of the stack, and it aims to devise a simple but thoroughly reliable power operated mechanism of this character, and to provide a sensitive and accurate controlling mechanism for the power driven means.

The invention also involves novel means for insuring the accurate separation and sheet in the stack durnovel means for preventing breakage of or injury to the parts which might take place if stantially exhausted.

the supply of sheets in the stack became sub- The invention also includes novel details of construction and combinations and ar- Specification of Letters Patent.

and the frame of the of this link Patented Apr. 1, 1919.

Application filed January 6, 1917. Serial No. 141,022.

rangement of parts, the nature and advantages of which will be readily understood from the following descriptionwhen read in connection with the accompanying drawings, in which- 7 Figure 1 is a view in side elevation of a sheet feeding mechanism embodying the invention in the form now preferred by me;

Fig. 2 is a cross sectional view on a line 2:-2, Fig. 1 showing a detail of construct1on;

Fig. 3 is a, side elevation partly in cross section showing the sheet feeder; and

Fig. L is a rear elevation of the mechanism shown in Fig. 1..

The sheet feeding mechanism is shown in the accompanying drawings applied to a wrapping machine of a common type, the frame of this machine being indicated at 2,

feeding mechanism be- The latter mechanism ing indicated at 4.

for supporting a. stack comprises a table 5 of wrapper blanks or sheets 6 designed to be fed to the machine 2. The stack of sheets is maintained against forward movement by front abutments or stops 7 and against lateral displacement by si e pieces 8 and 9, see Fig. 4, the side pieces being adjustable toward and from each other. The front abutments 7 have horizontal projections extent.- ing forward from their upper ends, indicated at 10 in Fig. 1, which constitute a platform or apron over which thesheets are advanced within reach of a set of belts 12 which carry them to the wrapping mechanism.

The sheets are advanced from the top of the stack one at a time by means of a reciprocating feeder which comprises a feed roll 13, made of rubber or some other suitable material, mounted on a short shaft which is rotatably supported in the forward end of a feed lever 14. This lever is ful- (-rumed at 15 on a carriage -16 which is mounted to reciprocate toward and from the belts12 on a stationary horizontal guide bar 17. The carriage is provided with a pair of rolls 18 which run on the upper surface of the bar 17. For the purpose of giving this carriage its reciprocating moven ent it is provided with a projection 20 to which a link 21 is connected, and the forward end is pivoted to the free end of a crank 22 fixed on the shaft 24. This shaft is driven by a chain COIlIlBCtlOIl with a sprocket wheel rotating .freely on shaft 25 I guide bar 17.

and fast with another sprocket 23 driven by a similar connection with a shaft 26, which forms part of the driving mechanism of the Wrapping machine-'2; It is obvious that as the shaft 24 rotates, the carriage 16 will be moved back and forth on the horizontal As/the feed wheel 13 is carried forward in this manner it is prevented from rotating by means of a ratchet wheel 28 fast with the wheel 13 and a pawl 29 held in contact With said wheel by spring 30. This construction, however, permits the wheel. to rotate freely in a clockwise direction while it moved backwardly in making the idle part of its stroke. A spring 32 having one end connected to the rear end of the lever 14 and its other end connected to one arm of a bell crank lever 33 fulcrumed on the cara riage 34, presses the feed roll 13 downward and holds it yieldingly in engagement with the surface of thetopmost sheet in the stack. It will now be evldeht that as the carriage 16 is moved backwardly, to' carry the feed roll 13 from the position in which it ap pears in full lines in Fig. 3 to that in which it is shown in dotted lines, it Will roll freely over the surfaces with which it engages; but when the carriage has reached the backward limit of its stroke and starts forward again, the pawl 29 and ratchet 28 will prevent the roll 13 from rotating, andit thus will exert a strong frictional drag on the topmostsheet andacarry this sheet forward over the platform 10 and toward the belts 12.-A'pa1r of spring pressed needles 36 pierces the margins of upper sheets in; the

stack at points substantially in line with the direction of the feeding movement of the feed roll 13 and effectually prevents the feed roll from advancing more than a single sheet at a time. These needles are 'supported by a holder 37 which is adjustably clamped on the bar 17. Y

In theconstruction shown the bell crank lever 33 is provided with an arm 38 which, as the carriage 16 nears therearward limit of its stroke, strikes a stationary pin 40 supported in the frame 4 and swings the lever about its fulcrum 34 in counter clockwise direction thus tensioning the spring 32 and acting through the lever 14 to increase. the

pressure of the roll 13 on the upper sheets in the stack 6.. Thisincrease in pressure is eration. This novel arrangement not only produces great reliability in the operation messes of the feeder, but it .insures the accurate separation of the topmost sheet from the other sheets in the stack, and it permits the use of a spring of such a tension-that it .will

cause the roll 13 to bearonly relatively lightly on the topmost sheet in the stack as it makes its return or idle stroke, and thus avoids any possibility of wrinkling up the sheet which must next be advanced. It will now be noted that the normal tension of the spring 32 can be adjusted by means of a set screw 41 adjustably mounted in the car- .riage 16 and arranged to bear against the arm 33 of the bell crank lever. A similar set screw 42 adjustably supported by the carriage 16 is positioned for engagement with the feeder lever 14 and limits the movement of this lever under the influence of a spring 32. The front abutment 7 in line with the feed roll 13 is slotted, as shown in Fig. 3, and the horizontal or apron portion 10 of this member is encircled loosely by I a strip of Webbing 44 or similar material. The upper" surface of this strip of webbing is on a'level with the other 'apronlike projections from the upright pieces 7, and in the normal operation of the mechanism it performs the same functions as do the ,cor-

responding portions of the other parts 7. If, however, the supply, of sheets should be exhausted while the feeder was allowed to reciprocate, the drag of the feed roll 13-on the strip 44, -.particularly while making its forward stroke, causes this strapto slide freely over the upper surface of thepart 10 and thus'avoids the wearand strain on the feederwhich Wouldot rwise-be produced by the heavy drag of te feedroll on the apron if the strip of webbing were not present.

It iso'bviousthat as the feeder removes sheets from the top of the stack 6. it will reduce the height ofthe stack in a very short time to such a point that it could not continue to advance sheets in the desired manner if some means were not provided to elevate the stack. and maintain the top ofthe stack at substantially a constant and predetermined hei'ght. For the purpose of ele-.

vating the stack,;the table 5 is supported by two palrs of racks, one p'airua't each side of the table, indicated respectively at 46 and 48, The two front racks 46 and 48,Figs. 1 and 4, mesh with pinions mounted fast on a shaft 49, one .of these pin-ions being indicated at 50 in Fig. 2. Idle-ro1ls51 and 52,.

respectively, hold the front racks 46 and 48 in engagement with their respective pinions.

The rearward pair ofracks 46 and. 48 are the shaft 25.- A shaft 54, lying between and similarly supported and guided, the pinions; with which they mesh being mounted fast on parallel to these two shafts, has a pinion 55 mounted fast thereon which meshes with two gears 56 -and. 57 mounted respectively 7 on said shafts, and the shaft 54 alsohas similar gear connections with said shafts at the opposite side of the table, the gear on the shaft 49 being indicated in Fig. 4 at 60. The shaft 54 has aifixed thereto a ratchet wheel 58 with which a pawl 59 engages and prevents counter clockwise rotation of these connections to maintain the table in its of the rod 75,

raised position.

A power driven mechanism is provided to operate through these connections to give the table 5 a step by step elevating movement. This mechanism comprises a lever 64 mountedto oscillate on the shaft 54 and carrying a pawl 65 which is'pivoted thereto and has its free end resting on the periphery of the ratchet wheel 58. One arm of this lever also carries a roll 67 adapted to run on the periphery of a cam 68v revolving with the sprocket wheel 23 on the shaft 25. This cam thus is operative to oscillate the lever 64 and this movement is transmitted by the pawl 65 to the ratchet wheel 58, rotating this wheel one tooth at a time, and thus operating through the gear connections with the table to elevate the table step by step. Normally, however, this roll is held out of contact with the cam by means of a latch mechanism which comprises a rod 70 supported at its upper end in a rock shaft 71 mounted in bearings formed on the frame 4 of the mechanism, the lower end of this rod being adapted to engage in a seat 72 formed in the arm of the lever 64 opposite to that which carries a roll 67. When in this position the rod 70 holds the roll 67 substantially in the path of travel of the highest part of the cam 68 and thus maintains the table elevating mechanism in an inoperative condition. The rock shaft 71 also carries a bracket 74 in which a rod 75 is mounted for vertical adjustment, by means of an adjust ing nut 76, and the lower end of this rod lies in the path of travel of a tail piece 78 which is fixed to the rearward end of the feeder arm 14. p I

= It-will be evident from an inspection of Figs. 1 and 3 that as the height of the top of the stack 6 is reduced, due to the removal of sheets from the stack, the feed roll 13 will drop and the tailpiece 78 on the rearward end of the feed lever 14 will be correspondingly raised. When the height of the upper end of the stack has been reduced to a point predetermined by the adjustment this tail piece 78 will engage the lower end of the rod 75 as the feeder 'order to prevent nears the backward limit of its stroke and swing the rod rearwardly about the axis of the rock shaft 71, thus moving the lower end of the rod 70 out of engagement with the seat 72. The weight of the lever 64, and the parts carried thereby, is so disposed with reference to its fulcrum, that this leverwill immediately rock in a counter clockwise direction until the roll 67 rests on the periphery of the cam 68. The table elevating mechanism thus is thrown into operation and raises the table one step. The release of the latch mechanism is only momentary, for the reason that the feeder starts forward again immediately after having tripped the latch, and as soon as the latch is disengaged from the feeder the rod 70 is swung back by a spring 69 toward its normal or upright position. The seat'72 in the lever 64 is at this time above the lower end of the rod so that the side of the rod strikes the end of the lever and rests against it until the cam 68 swings the lever far enough to allow the lower end of the rod to move into the seat 72 again. The latch thus resets itself immediately after it has been tripped by the feeder and it allows the table elevating mechanism to make only one elevating movement, acting thereafter to maintain said mechanism in an inoperative condition until the latch is again tripped by the feeder. The table, is raised only a small fraction of an inch at each operation of the table elevating mechanism so that the top of the stack of sheets is maintained at substantially a constant height. Normally the stack of sheets maintain the roll 13 at such a height that the tail piece 78 slides under the lower end of the rod'7 5 and the latch thus is tripped only when it is necessary to operate the table elevating mechanism in order to restore the upper end of the stack to the desired height. In other words, the connections between the feeder and the power driven mechanism which elevates the table enables the feeder to control the operation of said mechanism, and the feeder really, constitutes a feeler acting to detect variations in the height of the top of the stack and to bring the power driven mechanism into operation when the top of the stack drops below a predetermined level.

It is obvious that if the supply of labels on the table were allowed to become nearly exhausted, the automatic elevating mechanism might raise the table to a point where it would break the needles 36 and possibly also injure some of the other parts. In an occurrence of this kind a mechanism is provided which automatically throws the chuck elevating mechanism into an inoperative cgidition w en the table has been elevated to a predetermined point. This mechanism comprises a rod 80, Figs.

of course,

-1 and 2 projectin radially from a collar 81 fixed to the sha 49, the rod being operative at a certain point in itstra vel to engage a pin 82 projecting laterally from the lever 64. The rod 80 is so positioned angularly with reference to the shaft 49 that as this shaft is rotated in elevating the table 5, the

' rod will engage the pin 82 and press it down just before the table has reached a point at which a further elevation might. damage some of the parts. The pressure of the rod 80 on the pin 82 operates through the lever 64 to maintain the camroll 67 out of .engagement with the cam 68 and thus pre vents any further table elevating movement.

The lower limit of movement of the table 5 is determined by a pair of stops86 and 87 projecting from' opposite sides of the table lie in the path of-travel of the stops 86 and and shoulders 88 and 89 on the machine frame, the stops being adapted to rest, re-.

spectively, on the shoulders. A similarpairof stops 90 and 91 formed on the frame 4 87 as the table is raised andlimit the elevating movement of the table 5. The auto-' matic stop mechanism above described is arranged to throw the table elevating mecha- 'nism out of operation before the stops 86 in many other" forms differing in detailfrom that herein disclosed while still retaining its essential features and character ist ics. Ido not, therefore, desire to be 11m ited to the exact details of construction shown. I j "The sheet separating mechanism 1067' se isnot claimed in this applicationbut is claimed in. a divisional application, Serial No. 240,769, filed June 19,1918.

Having thus described myinvention what I claiinas new and desire to secure by Let ters Patent of the United States is:' 1. In a sheet feeding mechanism, the combination with a table for supporting a stack of sheets andmeans for feeding the sheets from the top .of the stack one at a time, of power driven mechanism constructed and arranged to elevate said table-stepibyistep,

means acting automatically to throw said mechanism into and out of operation in re .sponse to changes inthe height of the top nism inoperative when said table has .been' of said stack, and additional means constructed and arranged to render said mecharalsed to substantially a l predetermined height.

naeaeae r the top of the stack 2. In a sheetfeeding mechanism, the con bination with a tablefor supporting a stack of sheets and means for fee ing the sheets from the top of the stack one at a time, of

power driven mechanism constructed and arranged to elevate said table step? by step, means acting automatically to throw said mechanism into and out of operation in response to changes in the height of the top of saidis'tack, and additional means constructed, and arrangedato act on said mechanism to limit the height-=to whichs'aid table can be raisedby said mechanism.

3. In a sheet feeding mechanism, the combination with a table for supporting'a stack of sheets, of a reciprocating feeder operative. -tofeed the sheets one at a time from the'top of said stack, power driven mechanism for v elevating said table, a latch mechanism controlling the operationof said power driven mechanism and normally maintaining said power dr ven mechanism in an inoperative.

condition, a tail piece 'on said feeder, and

a part of said latch mechanism norinally outof the pathof movement of'said tail piece but 'arrange'd to be engaged by said tail piece to trip the'latch when the top of the stack drops below a predetermined level.

a 4.: In .a sheet feeding mechanismglthe com- .bination with a table for supporting a stack of sheets, racks supporting said table, a

ratghet wheel, gear connections between said ratchet wheel and said racks, a {pawl for feeding said, ratchet Wheel step. by step,

power. driven means for giving-said pawl its wheelfeeding movement, a latch controlling theloperation of said power driveii;;mean s,.a v

feeder operative to reciprocate over the top of said stack substantially parallel to the,

plane of said sheets to feed the sheets one at a time from the top of said stack, and means whereby the reciprocating movement ofs-aid feeder is utilized to operate said latch when a predetermined change in the elevation of said feeder takes place.

'55 In a, sheet feedin mechanism, the com bination with a table or supporting a stack of sheets, of a feeder operative tit reciprocate over the top of said stack substantially parallel to ,the plane of said sheets to feed the sheets one at a time frBm the top of said stack, power driven mechanism constructed and arranged to elevate said table,'a latch mechanism operative to maintain said power driven mechanism normally in an inoperative condition, and means whereby both the reciprocating movement of said feeder and changes-in its elevation are utilized to operate said latch mechanism when the level of v p drops below a predetermined point. '6. In a sheet" feeding mechanism, the com-.

bination with a table for supporting a-sta'ck of sheets, of a feeder operative to reciprocate I over the top of said stack substantially par"- allel to the plane of said sheets to feed'the sheets one at a time from the top of said stack, power driven mechanism constructed and arranged to elevate said table, a latch mechanism operative to maintain said power driven mechanism xnormally in an inoperative condition; said latch mechanism being normally disconnected from said feeder but being constructed and positioned to be operated by the movement of said feeder when a predetermined change in the elevation of said feeder takes place.

7 In a sheet feeding mechanism, the combination with a table for supporting a stack of sheets,'of a feeder operative to reciprocate over the top of said stack substantially parallel to the plane of said sheets to feed the sheets one at a time from the top of said stack, power driven mechanism for elevating said table step by step comprising a ratchet-wheel, a pawl, an oscillating lever carrying said pawl, and a cam for oscillating said lever, and a swinging latch having a part arranged to engag said lever to hold it out of the path of movement of said cam and having another part positioned ad ac.ent to the path of movement of said feeder and normally out of said path but arranged to be engaged and operated by the feeder when the level of the stack drops below a predetermined point.

In testimony whereof I have name to this specification.

HERMANN O. FISCHER.

signed my 

